proudest monarch in the world.  But Louis was not happy without her,—­a proof of his respect and love.  At the age of forty-seven he needed the counsels of a wife amid his increasing embarrassments.  He was already wearied, sickened, and disgusted:  he now wanted repose, friendship, and fidelity.  He certainly was guilty of no error in marrying one of the most gifted women of his kingdom,—­perhaps the most accomplished woman of the age, interesting and even beautiful at fifty.  She was then in the perfection of mental and moral fascinations.  He made no other sacrifice than of his pride.  His fidelity to his wife, and his constant devotion to her until he died, proved the sincerity and depth of his attachment; and her marvellous influence over him was on the whole good, with the exception of her religious intolerance.

As the wife of Louis XIV. the power of Madame de Maintenon became almost unbounded.  Her ambition was gratified, and her end was accomplished.  She was the dispenser of court favors, the arbiter of fortunes, the real ruler of the land.  Her reign was political as well as social.  She sat in the cabinet of the King, and gave her opinions on State matters whenever she was asked.  Her counsels were so wise that they generally prevailed.  No woman before or after her ever exerted so great an influence on the fortunes of a kingdom as did the widow of the poet Scarron.  The court which she adorned and ruled was not so brilliant as it had been under Madame de Montespan, but was still magnificent.  She made it more decorous, though, probably more dull.  She was opposed to all foolish, expenditures.  She discouraged the endless fetes and balls and masquerades which made her predecessor so popular.  But still Versailles glittered with unparalleled wonders:  the fountains played; grand equipages crowded the park; the courtiers blazed in jewels and velvets and satins; the salons were filled with all who were illustrious in France; princes, nobles, ambassadors, generals, statesmen, and ministers rivalled one another in the gorgeousness of their dresses; women of rank and beauty displayed their graces in the Salon de Venus.

The articles of luxury and taste that were collected in the countless rooms of that vast palace almost exceeded belief.  And all these blazing rooms were filled, even to the attic, with aristocratic servitors, who poured out perpetual incense to the object of their united idolatry, who sat on almost an Olympian throne.  Never was a monarch served by such idolaters.  “Bossuet and Fenelon taught his children; Bourdaloue and Massillon adorned his chapel; La Chaise and Le Tellier directed his conscience; Boileau and Moliere sharpened his wit; La Rochefoucauld cultivated his taste; La Fontaine wrote his epigrams; Racine chronicled his wars; De Turenne commanded his armies; Fouquet and Colbert arranged his finances; Mole and D’Aguesseau pronounced his judgments; Louvois laid out his campaigns; Vauban fortified his citadels; Riquet dug his canals;